本末之道 Principles of the Fundamental and the Incidental

      
      二零一一年六月，我带着行囊，独自一人从香港来到墨尔本。十几个小时的旅程，从湿热的夏天到阴冷的冬季，走过季节；从北半球到南半球，我飞跃赤道，虽然时差不过两三个小时，但却相隔 重洋万里，从一个世界到另一个天地。我相信人这一辈子要经过许多驿站。对我来说，香港的五年算是一个驿站，而我的下一站就是墨尔本。是我的选择，还是天意？不管怎么说，这是一个充满未知数的旅程，虽然一切都仿佛按部就班地进行着。泪洒香港，机场挥别，就这样上路了。到达目的地墨尔本的时候，不再有似曾相识的感觉。真实的，走进虚拟；未知的，却转眼变成了现实。

In June, 2011, I left Hong Kong for Melbourne, alone, with my luggage. It was a journey of 10 odd hours, crossing seasons from a hot and humid Summer to a damp and cold Winter. I crossed the Equator, from the Northern Hemisphere to the South. Although there was only a time difference of around two to three hours, it was indeed oceans, and hundreds and thousands of miles apart, from a space to a different world. I believe that people have a number of destinations in their life journeys. To me, five years’ in Hong Kong was one of my destinations, and my next one will be Melbourne. Is it my choice, or a destiny? Whatever it is, this is a journey into the unknown world, although everything has been duly scheduled. Tears shed, and hands waved at the Hong Kong International Airport, I am on my way. Arriving at Melbourne, perplexed as I am, I no longer feel home. Reality becomes virtual, and the unknown becomes a cold reality.

初到墨尔本的几个星期，甚至几个月里，我游离于两个世界之间，一个是真实的，有阳光和空气，也有绵绵阴雨；而另一个世界是虚拟的，有网络和好友，虽无时空局限，但也渐行渐远。日子一天一天地度过，生活场景、节奏和方式都在变换。在真实的世界里，我不断地寻找墨尔本与香港每一个细小的相似之处。而在虚拟世界里，我则蒙太奇一般由着性子生活在过去，现在和未来三个不同的时空里 。习惯了每日固定空间与节奏的我，面对着延伸的自由和空间，反而不知所措。接下来的日子，我感觉新奇、兴奋，但也有困惑、挣扎。在新的都市里，我感到彷徨，迷失，潜意识里不断寻寻觅觅。我在极力寻找与过去的生活似曾相识的东西，也在寻找自己。本来是追寻梦想而来，然而梦想成真以后，却又如梦初醒，怅然若失。

For the first few weeks or months in Melbourne, I have been living in two worlds. One is a reality world, filled with sunshine and fresh air, as well as damp and rainy days. The other world is a virtual world, with network, social media and virtual friends. With no restrictions in terms of time and space, however, I feel they are distancing away. Days like this constantly pass by, with landscape, living pace and lifestyle varying day by day. In the reality world, I have been constantly in search of the tinniest similarities between Melbourne and Hong Kong. Whereas in the virtual world, I’ve been indulging myself with a Montage styled life, travelling in time and space between the past, present and the future. Accustomed to a daily routine and fixed space and pace, I became at loss what to do with the extended freedom and space. In the days that followed, I felt curious, excited, but also confused, puzzled and struggling. In such a brand new city, I felt lost, depressed, and in search of myself subconsciously. I was looking, hard, for anything that would resemble my world in the past, and for my lost self. I was actually following my dream to come here, however, when the dream became true, I felt I woke up, and lost myself.

   

在这寻寻觅觅的日子里，我不经意地读到《礼记·大学》，有所感悟。其中一段是“知止而后有定；定而后能静；静而后能安；安而后能虑；虑而后能得”。其实反之亦然。我们无论身处何时何地，若不知止，则不定，若不定，则不静，而不静，则不安，而不安，则无从思想，若无思想，则毫无所得。时空转换，长途奔波，身处异地他乡。其实我最需要的也许就是能够静心止步，在动与静、安与虑，和得与失之间，悟一番本末之道。

During those days of mine in search of myself, I came across an article titled “Book of Rites: Great Learning”, and I got inspired. One of the verses is that “Knowing where and when to stop enables one to have stability; having stability makes one tranquil; being tranquil makes one at ease, being at ease enables one to deliberate; being able to deliberate enables one to attain one’s aims”. As a matter of fact, it can also be vice versa. Wherever and whenever we are, if we do not stop, we won’t have stability; if we don’t have stability, we won’t be tranquil; if we’re not tranquil, we won’t be at ease; if we won’t be at ease, we won’t be able to deliberate, and if we won’t be able to deliberate, we won’t be able to attain our aims. Time and space shift and change. I’ve been constantly on long journeys in life, and finding myself a sojourner living in different places and the other land. I’m indeed in need of a tranquil heart and a stop the most, and in between the mobility and the tranquility, ease and deliberation, gain and loss, I start to comprehend the ‘principles of the fundamental and the incidental’.

我这“本末之道”的本末二字源于墨尔本。初到南半球，感觉什么都颠倒过来。把墨尔本倒过来读，“本尔墨”，再去掉中间的“尔”，便得“本墨”，谐音“本末”；而“之道”，则是我生活在墨尔本所悟出的点点滴滴和生活道理。其实仔细推敲起来，中文里的“本末”二字含义十分丰富。“本”与“末”原是中国古典哲学的一对概念，属于魏晋玄学的基本范畴。“本”指的是木之根，而“末”则指木之梢 ，后来人们把本末一词引申为“本根、本始和末节、末终”，所以才有“木有本末，物有始终”的说法。自先秦以来，本末的含义又有所延伸。一是表示根本与非根本事物的关系，二是表示起始与后来事物的关系。中国古代的辩证哲学思想，从这本与末的关系也可见一斑。有古代学者，比如王弼，提出“以无为本”“举本统末”，即以无形无名之物为本，以有形有名之物为末。 认识事物需着眼于本体，而不受表面现象影响。也有学者，比如王夫之，则主张“观物象以推道，循末以测本”， 认为认识事物要从现象出发，来推出道理和本质。 除此之外，本末一词还可以用来指事物的根源和结局，引申为先后主次之分。做事情不可以本末倒置。本末也有事件始末详情的意思，如查出案件的始末等等。中国自古代开始便以农业为本，工商为末。所以《盐铁论·本议》称“古之立国家者，开本末之途，通有无之用”。对于一个国家一代王朝而言，本末则有仁义和法制的含义。汉贾谊所著《过秦论下》记有“故周王序得其道，千馀载不绝，秦本末并失，故不能长”，意思是说周朝的王道秩序，如公、侯、伯、子、男五等爵位等，合乎其根本，因而传国一千多年不断绝。而秦朝则不讲仁义法制，所以不能长久。由此可见，一国无本末则不能长久。

My ‘principles of the fundamental and the incidental’ or the principles of ben (Chinese word for root) and mo (Chinese word for small branches of a tree) originate from Melbourne. At the beginning of arriving in the Southern Hemisphere, I felt everything was upside down. If we read the Chinese equivalent of Melbourne, which is Mo-er-ben, reversely, we would have ‘Ben-er-mo’, and if we omit the middle character er, we would have ben-mo, which means the root and small branches of a tree. Alternatively, ben-mo also means the fundamental and the incidental. The word ‘principles’ in the book title signifies the nuances of my life experiences in Melbourne, and what I’ve consolidated through these life experiences. As a matter of fact, the two Chinese characters, ben （本） and mo （末）, have rich denotative and connotative meanings. Ben and mo are two opposing concepts in classical Chinese philosophy. They belong to Xuan studies in the Wei and Jin dynasties. Ben refers to roots, and mo refers to small branches of a tree. Later, people use ben-mo to refer to the fundamental, the beginning, the end and the final destination. Therefore, Chinese people have developed the saying that ‘a tree has its roots and small branches, and a thing has its beginning and end’.  Since Xian Qin Dynasty, the word Benmo （本末） has extended its connotative meanings. These meanings include: 1) the relationship between the fundamental and the incidental; and 2) the relationship between the beginning and the subsequent developments. Ancient Chinese classical philosophical thoughts can be reflected in the meanings the the Benmo. Ancient Chinese scholars, for example, Wang Bi, proposed that ‘non-existence is the fundamental’ and ‘the fundamental controls the incidental’, which means that the fundamental consists of things without a form or a name, and that the incidental consists of things with a form and a name. To know things, one should focus on the fundamental, and not be influenced by the surface phenomena. There were also scholars, for example, Wang Fuzhi, argued that “observing objects and phenomena so as to deduce principles, and following the incidental to predict the fundamental”. This means that to know things, one should start off with observing phenomena, and then arrive at principles and essence. In addition, the word Benmo can also mean the roots and the endings of things, and its extended meaning is the distinction between the first and the last, and between the primary and the secondary. To do things, one should not reverse the sequence of the beginning and the ending. Benmo may also mean the process between the beginning and the end, for example, in investigate the Benmo, or the process or details of things. Since ancient times in China, agriculture has been regarded as the fundamental, and industry and commerce as the incidental. Therefore, according to “On Salt and Iron: Evaluating Ben”, “Those who established a nation in ancient China would open up their Benmo, and channel the uses of haves and have-nots”. To a nation or a dynasty, Benmo also means Ren (kindheartedness) and Yi (justice), or righteousness and Fazhi (law). According to “On Guo Qin” (Volume II) by Jia Yi of the Han Dynasty, ‘So the Emporer of Zhou Dynasty knows the principles of the sequence between Ben and Mo, so the Kingdom lasts for over a thousand years, but Kingdom Qin lost its Benmo, so it couldn’t last long’. This means that Zhou Dynasty has its own principles and sequence, for example, Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi, Nan (titles and classes), following their fundamental and incidental, so its nation could last for over a thousand years. In contrast, Qin Dynasty did not promote Ren Yi and Law, so it could not last long. Therefore, it can be argued that nation cannot last long if it does not have its Benmo, or the fundamental and the incidental.

至于如何把“本末”翻译成英文，则要动一番脑筋。如果指的是事物的始终，那么应该译成the beginning and the end, 或者the whole story，也可以是the whole course of an event。如果指的是根本与非根本事物的辩证主次关系，那么则要译成the fundamental and the incidental。我所谓的“本末之道”多半取其我来墨尔本以后在生活中所悟出的根本与非根本事物的关系，这样一来，翻译成 the Principles of the Fundamental and the Incidental则较为适当。

It takes a bit of thinking or brainpower to translate ‘Benmo’ into English. If we mean the beginning and the end of something, then we should translate it as such, i.e., the beginning and the end. If we mean the relationship between what is fundamental and what isn’t, then we can translate it into the fundamental and the incidental. My so-called ‘Benmo zhidao’ mostly means the relationship between what is fundamental and what isn’t as far as my life experiences since I arrived in Melbourne have been, so it’s more appropriate to translate it into the Principles of the Fundamental and the Incidental.

那么我的“本末之道”究竟是什么呢？我的本末之道，其实是我在墨尔本的生活所悟，和对何为根本何为非根本事物辩证主次关系的思考。全球化、网络社会对人的身体和灵魂都有不同程度的冲击和碰撞。地理位置的变迁，人情世故的变化，再加上铺天盖地的网络无孔不入，生活已经逐渐变为碎片化，使得每个人都时时刻刻处在忙、盲、和茫的状态中。从早到晚，从忙碌，到盲目，再到茫然，日复一日，周而复始，转眼就从兔年进入龙年，又从马年跳过羊年转入猴年。再一转身，金鸡报晓，鸡年又如期而至。年年如此，不知不觉，人已到中年。苏格拉底曾说过 The unexamined life is not worth living （未经审视的生活不值得过）。而我所过的生活则充满惯性，被林林总总的各种大事小情所填满，无暇审视。于是乎，每日早起半个小时，任思想自由驰骋，游离于文字之间，反思自己，审视生活，其结果，便成了“本末之道”。

Then what does my ‘Benmo zhidao’ mean? My ‘Benmo zhidao’ (Principles of the fundamental and the incidental) are actually what I have understood based on my life experiences in Melbourne, and my reflections on the sensible relationship between what is fundamental and what is incidental. Globalization and networked society have an impact of various degrees and create tensions and conflicts among humanities and their souls. The geo-mobility, life changes, and the overwhelming social media penetration have fragmented people’s lives. Everybody has been in a constant state of busy-ness, blind-ness and disorient-ness. From dawn to dusk, we are always busy, blindly busy and feeling lost. Day after day. Year after year, like a cycle, from the Year of the Rabbit to the Year of the Dragon, and then the Year of the Horse galloped through the Year of the Goat to the Year of the Monkey. Before you realise it, the Year of the Rooster has already made it first crows no matter you have expected it or not. Years and years have gone by, and mid-life has crept in unnoticeably. Socrates once said, ‘the unexamined life is not worth living. However, my life seems to follow the natural law of inertia, flowing without much external forces, filled with things that are of both fundamental and incidental nature, with virtually no time to be examined. Therefore, I’ve decided to get up half an hour earlier on a daily basis, letting my thoughts wander, immersing myself among words and characters, reflecting on my own and examining life. Consequently, my ‘Benmo zhidao’ or the Principles of the fundamental and the incidental came into being.

《礼记·大学》里的哲学思想堪称古今中外为人处事的经典之道，尤其是其中的八条目：格物、致知、诚意、正心、修身、齐家、治国、平天下。自南宋以后许多仁人志士以此为修身治国纲领。所谓格物，就是明白事理，分清本末。是修身齐家治国平天下的根本。所谓致知，则是拥有渊博的知识，再加上诚实意念，就可以正心。所谓正心，则是在繁杂的社会里保持一种平衡的心态，能够静心，定心和安心，然后才可以修身和齐家。正心是让心灵从外物的依附中解放出来，全身心地做好当下所做的每一件事，进而“止于至善”，达到大真大爱大诚大智的境地。

“Book of Rites: Great Learning” contains classic principles and philosophies regarding people’s personal, professional and social developments that are well acclaimed both in China and worldwide, particularly those eight entries: gewu (the investigation of things), zhizhi (extension of knowledge), chengyi (making one’s will sincere), zhengxin (correcting one’s mind), xiushen (cultivating one’s self), qijia (harmonizing one’s one clan), zhiguo (governing the state) and pingtianxia (attaining peace throughout the land). Since Southern Song Dynasty, many people have been taking these principles to cultivate themselves and to govern their states. The so-called gewu means that people understand the roots of the matter and distinguish what is the fundamental and what is the incidental. It is the foundation for xiushen (cultivating ourselves), zhiguo (governing the state), and pingtianxia (attaining peace throughout the land). The so-called zhizhi means that people should acquire profound knowledge. People should also have a fair mind for sincerity, so that they can correct their minds (zhengxin). The so-called zhengxin means that in the complicated society, people should maintain a balanced mentality, and pursue stillness in heart, stability and peace in mind. They can then cultivate themselves (xiushen) and harmonize their clans. Zhengxin (correcting one’s mind) means that people should free their heart and soul from the external attachments, so that they can focus whole-heartedly on what they are doing. By doing so, they can stop in perfect goodness, and arrive at the state of great truth, great love, great sincerity and great wisdom.

有朋友说，一个人最大的敌人往往是自己。也许这位朋友的话是有道理的。网络时代，人与人之间交往的可能性不受时空限制。在盘根错节的纷杂事物里，我总感觉时间的流逝，无暇静心思想。 每日马不停蹄，身不由己，被各种事物所束缚，难分本末，甚至本末倒置。这种状态持续下去，往往最先失去的就是自己。所以，每日静心思想就变得十分重要。笛卡尔主张“我思故我在” （拉丁语 Cogito, ergo sum；法语 Je pense, donc je suis； 英语 I think, therefore I am），就是这个道理。古往今来，不知多少人都曾深悟此道，可见分清本末，静心思想之重要。

A friend once said, one’s biggest enemy is oneself. Perhaps what the friend said makes sense. In the era of the Internet and social media, interpersonal communication is not restricted by time and space. Immersed in all sorts of stuff and things, I feel the unstoppable passage of time, to the point that I have no time for stillness and meditation. Every single day is filled of busy-ness, as if my body and mind were not mine own, buried in all sort of things, and consequently, I could hardly distinguish what the fundamental and the incidental are, and I might even prioritise the incidental over the fundamental. With such a state continuing day after day, what is lost first is my very self. Therefore, some stillness and meditation on a daily basis can be of pivotal importance. Decartes argues that I think, therefore I am. (Latin: Cogito, ergo sum; French: Je pense, donc je suis), perhaps this is the principle. From the ancient time till now, countless people may have also understood this, therefore, it’s important to distinguish the fundamental and the incidental, and to allow oneself to meditate in stillness.  

本末之道是我来到墨尔本这一新的人生驿站之后的思想经历和感悟，也是我的人生哲学之旅。大凡人到中年，都有一番人生经历，值得沉淀，值得思考，值得审视。如在生命中的十字路口，身处于过去和未来之间，经历现实与虚拟世界的变换，每日与思想共舞，与本末之道同行，不亦乐乎。

Benmo zhidao (the Principles of the fundamental and the incidental) is about what I’ve experienced, observed and understood since I arrived in Melbourne, as one of the destinations of my life, and it is also a journey of my life philosophy. People reaching their mid-life tend to have some abundance of life experiences, which are worth consolidating, reflecting on, and examining. Standing at the cross in life, and positioning in between the past and the future, and in between reality and the virtual world, I find dancing with my sense and sensibility on a daily basis, and walking with the ‘Principles of the fundamental and the incidental, an ode to great joy.